“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah,
and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance
of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

Jude plainly says that Sodom and
Gomorrah are a sign or symbol of eternal fire. How did these cities come to
represent the horrible fate of eternal torment? How is this symbol used in God’s
Word?

How Sodom and Gomorrah Became A Symbol

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
were the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah (Gen. 10:6-20,
v. 19). Abraham lived about 1800 B.C. and descended from Noah’s son Shem.
The journeys of Abraham carried him from Ur to Haran, to Bethel in Palestine,
to Egypt, and back to Bethel. In this vicinity, Abraham and Lot, his nephew,
prospered with their flocks and herds until it seemed necessary to separate.
Bethel is twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Looking toward the east from the
higher ground of Bethel, one could see Sodom and Gomorrah in the plain of Jordan.
The whole region was well watered, “as the garden of the Lord” (Gen.
13:10). Lot moved into this region, “but the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (v.13).

Sodom and Gomorrah were located near
and confederate with three other cities (Admah, Zeboim, and Bela also called
Zoar), all in the vicinity of “the vale of Siddim,” which Moses
said many years later “is the salt sea” (Gen. 14:1-3). King Chedorlaomer
of Elam conquered these five cities. When they rebelled against him later, he
raided them and took many spoils of war and many captives, including Lot. When
Abraham heard of this, he led 318 of his men in pursuit of Chedorlaomer, caught
up with him at Dan, and rescued all the possessions and people which had been
taken (Gen. 14:1-16).

When Abraham returned, he was met
by the King of Sodom and his allies, and by Melchizedek, who was both the “king
of Salem” and “the priest of the most high God.”

In the presence of these kings, Melchizedek
blessed Abram in the name of “the most high God, which hath delivered
thine enemies unto thy hand.” Abram gave to this king and priest “tithes
of all” things in his possession, i.e., God was honored with a portion
of the booty recovered. Abraham refused to accept from the king of Sodom “a
thread even to a shoe latchet” lest the king should say, “I have
made Abram rich” (Gen. 14:17-24).

In spite of the exceeding wickedness
of Sodom and Gomorrah, through Abraham and Melchizedek God manifested himself,
extended his patience, and provided an opportunity for these cities to repent.

God sent angels in the form of men
as messengers to Abraham, declaring his intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah
“because their sin is very great.” No doubt thinking of Lot, Abraham
pled for God to spare Sodom if only fifty righteous souls could be found in
it. Then he went down to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten! God agreed
to spare the city each time but, alas, not even ten could be found (Gen. 18:16-33).
Think of it! Out of all the cities of the plain, ten righteous people could
not be found!

As recorded in Genesis 19, God sent
the messengers to warn Lot in Sodom to escape for his life. Lot graciously received
them, but the men of the city demanded Lot to relinquish his visitors to them
for the purpose of abusing them in homosexual practices. The Sodomites were
so perverted that they violently beat upon Lot’s door, threatened him,
and then persisted in their demands even after the Lord struck them blind! Lot,
his wife, and his two daughters believed the angels’ warning that they
had come to destroy Sodom, but “he seemed as one that mocked unto his
sons in law” (v. 14). Lot, his daughters, and his wife dreaded to leave
their friends and loved ones behind when the time came, but the messengers persuaded
them and literally pulled them by their hands to lead them out, “the Lord
being merciful to him” (v.16).

The angels granted Lot’s request
to spare the little town of Zoar, to which he fled. As he fled, his wife violated
the angels’ command that no one look back, “and she became a pillar
of salt” (v.26).

“Then the Lord rained upon
Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and
he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the
cities, and that which grew upon the ground” (Gen. 19:24-25).

We can only imagine what went through
Abraham’s mind when he looked off into the distance “toward Sodom
and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the
smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace” (v.28).

From that day until this day, Sodom
and Gomorrah have symbolized God’s fierce hatred of all immorality, especially
the sin of homosexuality, and the horrible ruin brought upon the sinner by God’s
wrath. The grave of Sodom and Gomorrah is not covered with fertile soil bearing
grass, forests, and crops like other cities of antiquity. No, its grave is covered
by the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea. This sea is not noted for delicious fish, nor
its shore for beautiful flowers. Where there was once a veritable garden of
the Lord and a thriving population, now “there are great quantities of
salt, with deposits of bitumen, sulphur, and nitre on the shores of the Dead
Sea.” This depressing depression “has the earth’s lowest surface,
1290 feet below sea level,” and its “water’s depth attains
1300 feet.” The Dead Sea’s “salt concentration reaches 25
percent, four times that of ocean water. Magnesium bromide prevents organic
life; the climate is arid, and the heat extreme” (see “Gomorrah”
and “Dead Sea” in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, 1963).

The Symbol in the Old Testament

God has utilized this symbol of his
wrath over and over throughout the history of the world. Moses lived about 1400
B.C., 400 years after Sodom was destroyed. Through Moses God warned the Israelites
that if they turned their backs on him, the heat of his great anger would turn
their land into another Sodom and Gomorrah:

“And that the whole land thereof
is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any
grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and
Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath” (Deut.
29:23).

In such a time, it would be said
of God’s people, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of
the fields of Gomorrah” (32:32).

Amos prophesied in the mid-700s B.C.
concerning the sins and approaching judgment of Israel. God had chastised Israel
in several ways, such as by destroying some of its cities through wars or natural
calamities. “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.” Israel
must “prepare to meet thy God” for a final judgment (Amos 4:11-12).

About 750 B.C., Isaiah sorrowed over
the apostasy of Judah, and said that the Lord had “a very small remnant”
left who served him, lest “we should have been as Sodom” and Gomorrah
(Isa. 1:9). Isaiah then compared the brazen wickedness of both the people and
the rulers of Judah to the shameless conduct of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10;
3:9). Though God would eventually use Babylon to punish his own people, he would
then punish Babylon for its pride and excessive violence “as when God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isa. 13:19). Sodom represents brazen evil
followed by the judgment of God from which none can escape.

The prophecies of Zephaniah (about
630-625 B.C.) foretell God’s universal judgments against many nations,
including his own people. Turning his attention to the east, the Lord declared,
“Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah,
even the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation”
(Zeph. 2:9). Sodom and Gomorrah represent the horrible punishment brought about
by sin, however God may execute his judgments.

During the late 600s and early 500s
B.C., when Judah was collapsing and going into Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah
said her prophets committed immorality, walked in lies, and caused the people
to persist in sin. Such prophets are like Sodom, and the people like Gomorrah
(Jer. 23:14). The sin and punishment of Jerusalem are said to be so shocking
as to be greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown “in a moment”
without the hands of men (Lam. 4:6). Thus, Sodom symbolizes sudden and divine
punishment. God likens his judgments against Edom and against Babylon to the
overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah: “no man shall abide there” (Jer.
49:18; 50:40). Thus, Sodom symbolizes utter ruin and desolation.

Ezekiel prophesied as Judah went
into Babylonian captivity. He emphasized the shame of Judah’s sins by
saying she was the sister of Samaria and of Sodom, but her sins were worse than
theirs (Ezek. 16:44-59). Judah exceeded “the iniquity of thy sister Sodom”
in such sins as pride, materialism, idleness, and abuse of the poor. Such sinful
attitudes and conduct led to the “abomination” for which Sodom was
finally destroyed (vv. 49-50). Sodom reminds us that such sins always lead downward
to destruction.

The Symbol in the New Testament

Jesus taught that the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah was a literal, historical event, not a myth, parable,
fable, or fairy tale. When Jesus stressed the importance of being watchful and
prepared for God to exercise judgment, he referred to the historical events
of “the days of Noah” and of “the days of Lot.”

“Likewise also as it was in
the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted,
they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and
brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all” (Lk. 17:28-29).

Then, he added, “Remember Lot’s
wife” (v. 32). Jesus referred to the destruction of Sodom on a specific
day (“the same day that Lot went out of Sodom”), by a specific means
(“it rained fire and brimstone from heaven”), and with a specific
result (“destroyed them all”). Jesus used Sodom to reinforce the
lesson that men must take seriously God’s warning of judgment.

When Jesus sent his disciples out
on the limited commission, he said of those people who refused God’s Word,
“Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Matt. 10:15;
cf. Mk. 6:11; Lk. 10:12). Jesus made the same statement concerning cities which
heard his teaching, saw many “mighty works” which confirmed the
truth of his teaching, and still “repented not.” Capernaum would
be brought down from its exalted position to the suffering of the wicked in
hades, just as Sodom was (Matt. 11:20-24).

Sodom had heard the truth, and seen
it confirmed through Abraham and Melchizedek. This opportunity should have brought
Sodom to repentance, but they hardened their hearts against it. The people of
Capernaum had heard the truth, had seen it confirmed by Jesus Christ himself,
and yet had hardened their hearts. In rejecting the fuller revelation and greater
blessings of the gospel, they made themselves worse than Sodom. Such comparisons
were designed to impress the people with the shame and disgrace of their sins,
and with the certainty of God’s judgment against them.

Notice that Jesus taught that the
people of Sodom were not annihilated. They are in hades, awaiting the final
judgment. They will be raised from the dead to give an account of themselves
“in the day of judgment.” The people of Capernaum and all other
people will be there. When Jesus says, “It shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city,”
he does not mean that the Sodomites will be excused and exonerated, nor that
hell will be cooler or shorter in duration for them than for others. Sodom is
symbolic of the certainty of God’s wrath against sin, and of the utter
and awful punishment brought about by sin.

Sodom is the preeminent example of
God’s wrath. To say that someone’s sins are worse than Sodom’s,
or that it will be “more tolerable” for Sodom, does not make Sodom’s
punishment any less certain or severe. It simply underscores the absolute certainty
and awful severity of the punishment promised in the comparison!

Jesus came to warn of judgment to
come, but also to save us from it. He told his Apostles to preach salvation
from sin and eternal torment:

“And he said unto them, Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”
(Mk. 16:15-16).

“He that believeth not shall
be damned” means that hell is real. When Jesus comes again, he will judge
the world and deliver his people (Acts 17:31; 2 Thess. 1:7-9).

When Jude warned against the subtle
and corrupt influence of apostates and their doctrines, he also warned that
they lead men to destruction in the day of judgment. He underscored the certainty
and the severity of divine judgment with three examples: the Jews “that
believed not” during the wilderness wanderings, the angels who fell and
who are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment
of the great day,” and finally Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 4-7).

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah,
and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance
of eternal fire” (v. 7).

Following a similar pattern which
points to Sodom as the preeminent example, Peter warned against false teachers
and the judgment to come by pointing to three examples: the angels, Noah’s
generation, and finally Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Pet. 2:1-8).

“And turning the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them
an example unto those that after should live ungodly” (v. 6).

When God rained “brimstone
and fire” upon Sodom, He literally turned the city “into ashes”
(Gen. 19:24; 2 Pet. 2:6). He did it in such a fashion as to demonstrate that
this fire came from God, not from man. Whether men like it or not, God destroyed
Sodom in such a way as to memorialize for all time his hatred of immorality,
especially homosexuality. Furthermore, he sent such a horrible, unrelenting,
unquenchable fire as to necessarily imply “the vengeance of eternal fire”
(Jude 7). The fire of God’s anger pursued the Sodomites on earth, still
torments them in hades, and will punish them throughout all eternity.

The spirit of Sodom is still alive,
but is doomed to defeat. In establishing the church, God sent out men to reveal
the gospel and to spread it throughout the world. In an effort to destroy the
church, Satan killed many of these faithful witnesses to the truth of the gospel.
John pictured the scene of this slaughter in these words: “and their dead
bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11: 8). The
city which serves Satan is immoral and obstinate like Sodom, binds people in
sin as Egypt bound the Jews, and rejects the truth and its author. The witnesses
and the cause of truth were raised. Christ conquered his enemies, and the city
fell. The last book of the Bible reminds us of the symbol given in the first
book. The spirit of Sodom is doomed to utter and eternal defeat.

Whether the lusts of Sodom attract
us, or its wickedness afflicts us, let us remember that it is “set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7). It
is the sign and symbol of eternal torment!

By Ron Halbrook

(For further study, see Halbrook,
“Eternal Punishment,” The Doctrine of Last Things: Florida College
Annual Lectures, 1986, pp. 114-137.)